Adams Äpfel

This was a wonderful surprise at the (Cleveland) CIFF, a well-made dark comedy.

Adam is a neo-Nazi on a sort of Danish "probation for reprobates", where society's sinners are given a gradual re-introduction to public life under the guidance of Ivan, a parish minister. Adam needs to negotiate a "program" for his several weeks stay; despite his efforts at being arch and cynical Ivan takes him totally in seriousness, setting "baking an apple pie" as Adam's goal. A battle of wills ensues between Adam and Ivan, with wonderful comedic support from Gunnar (Nicolas Bro in another wonderful role) the ex-tennis player and Khalid (Ali Kazim) as a not-yet-reformed terrorist.

Everyone is coping here, but the central character is clearly Ivan (perhaps the funniest I've seen Mads Mikkelsen!). He comes across as "Pangloss" with a twist: "everything is for the best" in this world only in that the devil conspires to make everything a test of man's faith. He is completely deluded yet completely steadfast. This rational irrationality is perhaps the greatest challenge to Adam; no matter what he does Ivan retains his faith…to a point where the comedy simply takes another course.

Not to give away the delight of this comedy's surprises, the characters cope with life, each other, are exasperated and exasperating, consistently inconsistent…the trials of Job are well played out in this barely disguised absurdist romp.